Investigation on Light-driven Photocatalyst-based Materials for Wastewater Cleaning and Environmental Remediation

As a promising and green method, wastewater purification techniques based on photocatalyst have received much attention in recent years. However, problems such as low quantum efficiency, limited light responding range and recovery problems limit the further applications of photocatalyst-based materials. In this study, a Ag3PO4 photocatalyst with tube-like structure has been synthesized by self-assembly at room temperature. The properties of the catalyst are investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and N2 adsorption-desorption. The photocatalytic activities of the tube-like Ag3PO4 are mainly studied by degradations of methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) organic dyes. The effects of pH values and stabilities on photocatalytic performance are studied as well. The results reveal that the tube-like Ag3PO4 exhibits greatly high activities for the degradation of RhB solution under acidic condition. The excellent activities of the photocatalyst are due to the small dimension, unique nanostructure and specific surface property. Importantly, Ag3PO4 photocatalysts are found with unexpected photocatalytic activity (completion degradation of RhB-MO mixed dyes in 28 h) under natural indoor weak light, of which the light intensity (72 cd) is one in a thousand that of a 300 W Xe lamp (68.2*103 cd). The degradation of simulated wastewater containing organic dyes and inorganic ions by Ag3PO4 under indoor weak light also reveals the potential of Ag3PO4 in practical applications of wastewater cleaning and environmental remediation by solar energy-driven photocatalysis